


Take Two

by CardcaptorGhost



Series: Half-life [1]
Category: Death Note (Anime & Manga)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Light Is Not Kira, Good Yagami Light, L (Death Note) is a Dick, L Wins (Death Note), Light Angst, M/M, Minor Misora Naomi/Raye Penber, Temporary Character Death, Time Travel, Time Travel Fix-It
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-11
Updated: 2020-12-31
Packaged: 2021-03-02 21:47:42
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 14,998
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24133822
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CardcaptorGhost/pseuds/CardcaptorGhost
Summary: Light is convicted of being Kira and sentenced to death. After his death, the shinigami king brings Light to the Shinigami Realm with a mission - to find the real Kira. Armed with the Shinigami Eyes, Light is sent back in time to the rise of Kira determined to clear his name and capture Kira before it becomes to late.
Relationships: L/Yagami Light, Minor or Background Relationship(s), Misora Naomi/Raye Penber
Series: Half-life [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1743772
Comments: 122
Kudos: 631





	1. Chapter 1

Light refused to speak. His heart was hammering in his chest as he was roughly dragged down the long corridor leading to his fate. He had been convicted of a crime he hadn’t committed, L believed he was Kira and somehow convinced the rest of the task force including his father. Today, he would be executed, punished for something he hadn’t done. No matter how much he screamed or shouted that he wasn’t Kira and that the real Kira was still out there, no one listen. No one believed him. And now it was too late.

He was forced into the chair and restraints were tied around his arms and legs. The injection materials were already set up. No one was here to watch Light Yagami die, not his family. Not L. Light wasn’t sure whether he should find any comfort in that, he would finally be at peace, never having to pretend to be something he wasn’t. He didn’t need to be perfect anymore.

The nurse performing the procedure explained what would happen. Not that she need to, Light knew what happened. He would be injected with chemicals which would kill him. It would make him unconscious, then it stops his breathing which leads to his heart stopping.

“Light Yagami. You have been sentenced to death for your crimes as the mass murder of Kira. No new criminals have died which proves that you are guilty. Do you have any last words?” the disembody voice spoke through the speakers, Light knew it was L. Apparently the World’s Greatest Detective wanted to witness the death of his greatest enemy.

“Goodbye L” Light whispered; he wasn’t sure whether L heard him, but he didn’t care anymore. He was going to die regardless. He closed his eyes and felt the needle press against his skin. He didn’t fight it; he didn’t try and fight for a chance to live longer. He was tired all he wanted to do was sleep. Light relax, allowing the darkness to flow over him. And his heart stopped.

* * *

Light had died, he was sure of it. So, the last thing he was expecting was to wake up. He was no longer in the prison attached to the chair instead he was in a deserted wasteland. It was dark and the ground was barren, there didn’t seem like any sign of life or at least of those who had died. Maybe this was his own personal hell.

“Light Yagami” an unfamiliar voice said from behind him. Light turned and he wasn’t sure whether he should scream or run away, the creature in front of him was horrifying. It had a large, globe-like body mass that was suspended in the air with chains. It had a skull head, which is recessed within a larger, outer skull-like formation. Light stumbled backwards trying to put as much distance between himself and the monster.

“What the hell are you?” Light shouted. It felt like his heart was pounding in his chest but how could it be, he was dead. His heart shouldn’t be beating.

“I am in the Shinigami King. You are currently in my realm. Your death was wrong, you died years before you were meant to because of Kira. I have brought you here to ask you to defeat Kira, what he has done has been inexcusable as he has ended many people’s lives years before they were meant to” The creature… the Shinigami King explained. Light froze, why would the Shinigami King – a god of death – want him to find Kira. Kira was the reason he died.

“How? I’m dead” Light started before adding “and even if I could, if L couldn’t find Kira then how am I meant to”.

“Kira is using a Death Note, a notebook which if you write a person’s name in it they will die. To use the death note, the death note user must picture the person they wish to kill in their mind to prevent anyone sharing the same names from being affected. However, there is deal which a Shinigami can make with a human to help them gain the names of their victim by trading half their remaining lifespan. The Shinigami eyes allow humans to see a person’s name and lifespan by looking at their face. To help you in finding and defeating Kira, I will give you the Shinigami eyes, you will be able to tell who uses a death note because you won’t be able to see their lifespan. Considering you have no lifespan to give think about this as a gift, you will also be immune to the death note since you are technically dead” The Shinigami king said.

“Thanks, I guess. It still doesn’t explain how I’m going to do this” Light asked. It’s not like he can go running around Tokyo considering he was legally and physically dead.

“I can send you back in time to your old body however you will be different. You won’t need to eat or sleep as often as you use to. If you meet anyone with the Shinigami eyes they will be able to see your name or lifespan however your lifespan will be at zero since you’re already dead. Using the Shinigami eyes, you can find Kira then help L capture and sentence Kira to death” The Shinigami king added.

“Ok. I want to catch Kira. I want to look into the eyes of the person who killed me and sentence him to death” Light agreed. The Shinigami King smirked or at least that’s what it looked like before raising his clawed hand and pressed it against Light’s forehead. Everything went dark, he couldn’t see anything or hear anything. Then suddenly he saw everything, the people rushing around getting to their destinations. He saw the date October 6th, 2006, the same day as the Lind L. Tailor incident. Light couldn’t believe it had worked yet here he was, he could see people’s names and lifespans floating about their heads. It was both beautiful and overwhelming so many names and so many people. Their lifespans ranging from only a few days to years. Light was snapped out of his thoughts by the sudden turn in his stomach.

“Oh, I’m going to be sick” Light muttered to himself as he ran over to the rubbish bin and emptied his stomach.


	2. Chapter 2

Once Light had empty what little he had in his stomach, his attention turned to the Jumbotron which would display L’s broadcast. It was currently displaying the news which hardly anyone was really paying any attention to. Light looked down at his watch – _15:59pm._ The broadcast would begin any second.

“We now interrupt this usual showing to bring you live to the ICPO” the news reporter said before the screen switched to reveal a man wearing a suit sitting behind a desk which the name Lind L. Tailor printed on a card right in front of him.

“I head up an international police task force which includes all member nations. I am Lind L. Tailor, otherwise known as L” Lind L. Tailor said. Light looked around at the others watching the broadcast, their eyes were glued to the screen. No one could anticipate what they were about to witness, they might secretly believe in Kira or oppose him, but no one was prepared to witness the true extent of Kira’s power. A collective gasp pulled Light from his thoughts as he looked back up at the Jumbotron to see Lind L. Tailor slump forward dead and for L’s logo to appear. Light didn’t hang around any longer, he already knew how this would play out plus he didn’t really want to listen to the disfigured voice of the man who had sent him to his death. Light silently prayed that throughout the whole of this Kira Investigation, he would never have to look that man in the eyes. But before he could even consider dealing with that bastard, he needed to find Kira, so like any good investigator Light need to compile all the information he had learnt from what had happened the first time around and what little the Shinigami king had told him.

* * *

When Light got home, the house was empty. He wasn’t sure whether he should be happy about it though, ever since he was arrested he had hardly seen his family. His kind and loving mother, his bubbly little sister or his workaholic father who at the current time didn’t believe he was capable of murder and hopefully in this timeline, he never would. Light dumped his school back by his desk and pulled out an empty notebook from his draw. It would probably be best to keep all the information about the Kira case together in one notebook and then keep said notebook with him. The last thing he needed was someone discovering it and learning about the future events. First Light jotted down everything he remembered of the Kira case timeline starting from the first confirmed Kira killing. 

_**Timeline of the Kira Case** _

_November 28, 2006_

_Kurou Otoharada dies of a heart attack. Kira first confirmed victim._

_November 29 – December 4, 2006_

_Kira kills criminals with little intervention or acknowledgment from the police._

_December 4, 2006_

_The ICPO meeting on Kira killings. L announces his involvement in the Kira Investigation later to become the Kira Task Force with Soichiro Yagami, Shuichi Aizawa, Kanzo Mogi, Touta Matsuda and Hirokazu Ukita._

_December 5, 2006 (Present)_

_Lind L. Tailor incident. Proves Kira is real._

_December 10 – 11, 2006_

_23 criminals held in prison are killed one by one, on the hour. This reveals that Kira has someway gain access to the Kira Investigation information and he can control when his victims will die._

_Between December 14 – 18, 2006_

_Somewhere between the dates above, 12 FBI agents enter Japan to investigate the families connected to the Kira Investigation._

_FBI Agent Raye Penber starts following me._

_December 20, 2006_

_The lawyer on the bus who asks for Raye’s identification must be or have connection to Kira. Kiichiro Osoreda takes the occupants of the bus hostage. Lawyer man doesn’t trust Raye and forces him to reveal who he is. Osoreda is then killed when he hallucinates something (a Shinigami?) and gets off the bus before dying when he is hit by a car._

_December 27, 2006_

_All twelve FBI agents are killed by Kira._

_January 1, 2007_

_Take a change of clothes to dad at the station. See woman needing to talk to the NPA. Don’t talk to her and discover that she went missing the same day – Naomi Misora. Possibly killed by Kira?_

_April 18, 2007_

_The Second Kira’s tapes are broadcast on Sakura TV_

_April 24, 2007_

_I get arrested on suspicion of being Kira._

_April 25, 2007_

_The arrest of Kira has been leaked to the media._

_There are no more deaths at the hand of Kira._

_April 30, 2007_

_Lethal Injection + Shinigami King proposition_

Light let his eyes trail over the long timeline, he never expected some much had happened in such a short space of time. There was so much he wanted to change, so much he had to change. He only had until April 30th to find Kira or convince L that he was innocent before L would kill him again, he needed to keep himself away from L’s attention for as long as possible until Light found a concrete lead to the real Kira and to his or her death note. Light still couldn’t believe that such a weapon existed, yet the existence of the Shinigami King and his sudden new ability of reading people’s names and lifespans could only confirmed that something like the Death Note had to be real. It was the next thing that Light wrote about in his notebook.

_**The Shinigami Weapon** _

_From the discussion with the Shinigami King before I was sent back in time, the Death Note is a little black book which has the ability to kill anyone who’s name is written in it. The death note user must picture the person they wish to kill face in their mind to prevent the death of anyone who share the same name. Along with the death note, humans can gain the Shinigami eyes which allows those death note users to see people’s names and lifespans however to gain these eyes, the person must sacrifice half of their remaining lifespan._

Light wasn’t sure whether he should feel grateful because of his non-existent lifespan he was privy to gain the Shinigami eyes without paying the price or cursed because now he was forced to know when everyone and anyone he ever met would die. Maybe once this was all over he could get the Shinigami King to take back his eyes.

“What do I do now?” Light muttered to himself, it was not like he could go wandering around Tokyo hoping that he would find someone who is missing their lifespan and hand them over to the task force saying that they were Kira and it wasn’t like he could just investigate without access to people who have experience with this type of thing. The last thing he needed was drawing the attention of NPA and by extension L.

“I guess I have to wait until I come into contact with the FBI agent, if I can prevent his death maybe that would lead me down a different path where he could deal with L for me”.

* * *

**December 20, 2006**

Light hadn’t had to wait long until he felt the familiar presence of someone following him. Quickly confirming it after looking outside his window to see the name Raye Penber floating above his stalker’s head. Light continued his life as best as he could trying to live it as close to how it originally happened. Light’s mother, Light still couldn’t get over the fact that he was with his family again even if they had only been separated for a few days, during his confinement and interrogation it had felt like months had gone past. Anyway, his mother has asked Light to head out and get some groceries for her for dinner. Raye Penber was still following Light and like before had sat behind him on the bus.

‘Here we go again’ Light thought to himself as the bus pulled up and Osoreda climbed aboard.


	3. Chapter 3

Light sat near the back with Raye Penber behind him, if he remember correctly then the lawyer man and potentially Kira would get on the bus two stops from his and then Osoreda was the stop after. On his lap, he had his sketchbook with a light outline of the lawyer’s face sketched onto the paper and was ready to fill in the details once the lawyer appeared. It wasn’t like he could get away with taking a picture of the man so drawing him was his next best solution. It was a good thing that Light was pretty good at drawing, as for when he was younger before his father had forced him to focus on studying and working towards becoming a police officer he had spent most of his time drawing. He always found it relaxing and at one point hoped he could become a professional artist, hell he even entered some of his work into competitions under an alias and won first prize. Not that he could ever confess to it, his father believe drawing was for little children and girls. Light disagreed but nevertheless, he kept art a secret hobby.

The bus stopped and the lawyer climbed on. Light’s eyes slowly travelled upwards to reveal his name - Teru Mikami. Light jotted his name down on his sketchbook before he started to draw. Mikami must have so connection to Kira, his lifespan was there but that didn’t mean that he didn’t give Kira Raye Penber’s name unless Mikami was under the control of the death note too. Light was pulled out of his thoughts when he felt the bus stop and Osoreda climbed aboard.

“Stay in your seats unless you want to die” Osoreda shouted, Light heard Raye take a sharp intake of breath in but what interested Light the most was Mikami. He didn’t look scared or worried with their situation at all. Osoreda spoke up again “Everybody, shut up. If anybody moves, I’m putting a bullet in their head. All right driver, you listen to me. I know you’ve got the number for Spaceland’s office on you. Call’em”. Light stopped paying attention to Osoreda after all he was more interested in what Kira’s accomplice would do next. Light expressed a worried look when Mikami looked over at him just like he had done the first time around. Mikami smiled at him pulling a piece of paper out of his pocket and wrote something down before passing the paper over to Light.

‘Don’t be scared. As soon as he turns around. I’m gonna grab the gun out of his hand’ Mikami wrote and Light nodded before passing the piece of paper back. He needed to play along.

“Don’t be stupid. That’s risky. If it comes to that, I’ll take care of it” Raye spoke up, reading the message from over Light’s shoulder. A sinister look appeared on Mikami’s face before he said.

“Do you have any proof that you not his accomplice? Why should we trust you?. I mean I’ve seen cases like this before. The first hijacker comes in like he is working alone, meanwhile a second one pretends to be a hostage and stays in the very back just in case something goes wrong” Mikami spoke and Light could see that Raye was conflicted just like before, soon he would reveal he was an FBI agent and die at the hands of Kira, or he would if Light hadn’t lived this before.

“I trust you. My father is an NPA cop and he always told me to trust people. You seem trustworthy enough but nevertheless if he was an accomplice or not. He could have some fake ID which would fool someone. It’s what I would do if I was an accomplice, if you wanted someone to trust you but without compromising your identity you would show some fake ID” Light said, Mikami looked annoyed before he could say anything a piece of paper dropped from his pocket and Light’s heart jumped. Could that be the same note from earlier or a different one. Light reached down lightly brushing his fingers against the piece of paper which caught Osoreda’s attention. Light sat up leaving the piece of paper on the floor.

“Don’t move, you little punk. What the hell is that? You guys were planning something back here, weren’t you?” Osoreda shouted and Light saw bend down. He stormed over and for a second Light wondered whether everything would still play out as it previously had. Would he die if Osoreda shot him now? Osoreda snatched the piece of paper up from the floor and read it.

“Plans for a date. Stupid kid” Osoreda said dropping the piece of paper back onto the floor and Mikami bent down to scoop it back up. Then it happened Osoreda turned around and he screamed.

“W-who the hell are you? You in the very back. What do you think you’re doing? Don’t mess with me. How long have you been hiding back there?” Osoreda said grabbing his gun and pointing it to something behind Light.

“What’s this? You are talking to me? So, you mean you can see me right now? Oh, I get it. That little note that Mikami accidentally dropped was torn from the pages of the death note itself, since he tricked this guy into touching the paper, he’s the only one on the bus who can see me. That’s so smart. Sorry, pal. I’m a Shinigami, so I’m afraid your bullets aren’t gonna kill me. Anyone who touches the death note can see me. I have to stay till the death note is finished or I see you die, whichever comes first, and a Shinigami can’t die from being shot…” an unfamiliar voice said which sent shivers down Light’s spine. Light finally convinced himself to turn his head around to see what Osoreda was seeing and his heart stopped. Right in front of him was a Shinigami, there was no doubt about it. It had light-grey skin, with spiky black hair and bright round yellow eyes with red irises and large wings on his back. This had to be Kira’s Shinigami, the original one who dropped its death note into the world in the first place. Light snapped his head back around when he heard screams, Osoreda had jumped off the bus and was hit by a car. He was dead. The whole road came to a standstill as the remaining passengers piled off the bus.

“Come with me” Light said to Penber the second they got off the bus. He couldn’t waste any second longer just in case Mikami tried to get Raye’s name again. Light dragged Raye off, to only through a quick glance over his shoulder to see whether Mikami was following but to his surprise Mikami wasn’t looking in their direction instead he was typing furiously on his phone. The Shinigami on the other hand was staring right at Light with creepy expression on it’s face which Light couldn’t describe any better than it looked weirdly happy. Why a god of death would look happy Light had no idea. Stashing that information into the back of his mind, Light pulled Raye out of sight of the other passengers and disappeared into the crowd.

“What are you doing?” Raye finally said, he was beyond confused. Light Yagami who hadn’t shown any signs that he had noticed that he was being followed, and now he was currently pulling Raye away from the scene of the bus jacking acting completely different from what Raye had witnessed from him. It was like Light Yagami had become a completely different person once the bus jacking had occurred which was suspicious. Did Yagami know that the bus jacking was going to happen if so why? How? So many questions were running through Raye’s mind and the only person who could answer them Raye wasn’t sure he could trust.

“I’m sorry for suddenly dragging you away like that but you’re in danger so, is there anywhere we can go, and I promise I’ll explain everything when we get there. It’s not something we can discuss out in the open trust me” Light said. Raye stayed quiet for a moment, did he really have a choice, Light obviously knew more than he was letting on, but then again could Raye really trust him, he could lie about all of it and still make it sound believable. He sighed. He had no choice if wanted answers and what FBI agent didn’t investigate leads which could lead to Kira. Yagami knew something and Raye had a job to do.

“Follow me” Raye said, and they walked to the apartment which he and Naomi were currently renting out before they could find their own place in Japan. Naomi’s parents lived in Japan and it had been Naomi’s dream to own a house in both America and Japan so they could visit both countries as much as they wanted.

The walk to his apartment was quiet neither Light nor himself tried to make any conversation after all what were they supposed to talk about the nice weather they were having? Raye was umming and ahhing over whether he should message Naomi to give her the heads up but decided against it, she would only ask two many questions to which Raye didn’t have the answers to. When they arrived at his apartment, Raye took one last at Light seemingly trying to decide whether this was the right idea. Light seemed to pick up on Raye’s nerves and turned to give him a reassuring smile which brought something else to Raye’s attention. He hadn’t seen Light blink once, was this guy just really good at holding his eyes open because Raye had been following him for days now and he hadn’t noticed Light ever blinking. Raye pushed the front door open and was instantly greeted from Naomi who was sat in a chair reading a book, her eyes went straight to Light.

“Raye what’s going on” the woman said, Light decided to spare her a glance. The red words floating above her head said Naomi Misora. Ah that makes sense, the woman who went missing was Raye Penber’s fiancée from the looks of the engagement ring on her finger, after her fiancé death she must have tried to find Kira and ended up dying because of it. Raye shrugged at Naomi, he had no clue what was going on, the man who was a potential Kira suspect seemed to think he was in danger.

“Miss Misora…” Light started, both Raye and Naomi tensed. Obviously worried how Light knew her name after all they hadn’t introduce themselves. Light gave them both an innocent smile before continuing “your fiancé Mr Penber nearly gave his identity away to an associate of Kira. Now I understand you both have plenty of questions but first I need some quiet. I need to draw the Shinigami that I saw” and with that Light opened his sketchbook turning to a clean page and got to work ignoring the concerned looks he was getting from Miss Misora and Mr Penber.


	4. Chapter 4

Light ignored the confused and concerned looks he was receiving when sketching out the Shinigami he had seen on the bus. It confirmed his theory that Mikami had some connection to Kira, he had to be someone Kira trusted to let him take a part of the death note and his Shinigami with him to the bus jacking but Light couldn’t stop asking himself why Kira would send someone else in his place after all, in Light’s perspective this was the second time this had happened to him and nothing had changed from the first time, Mikami was the one who got on the bus and pestered Raye into revealing his identity. Light had always believed that Kira was an intelligent individual so, why would he trust Mikami so much to get Raye’s identity and not do it himself. It just didn’t make sense. Light quickly finished up his drawing and once he was satisfied that he had captured the likeliness of the Shinigami his closed his sketchbook and turned to look at the two other occupants.

“I know you have questions and I will answer them in due course however, I want to explain my situation first. I know you won’t believe it, trust me. I know it sounds insane but since I’m here and not on my way home like I was the first time around. I know for certain this is real. So, all I ask for you is to listen and not ask questions until I’ve finished and by doing so I know that I can trust you and I promise to explain everything that I know without withholding information from you” Light said. Naomi and Raye shared a look with each other, they weren’t sure what to make of Light Yagami however, he had said he had answers towards finding Kira then it would be worth listening him out before taking the information to the police. They nodded.

“Thank you” Light started before taking in a deep breath, he didn’t need to breathe which was a strange concept for him like not needing to blink but since they both had been automatic process that his body would originally done for him now, they were something he needed to think about to make it look that he was still alive or at least to people who didn’t know his circumstances. Light began “I’m from four months into your future. I was sent back in time to stop Kira; he was able to fool L into believe that Kira was someone else and they died for Kira’s crimes when the real Kira got off scot free”.

“I met the Shinigami King, and he told me that Kira uses a death note. A notebook which allows you to kill anyone by writing their name in the notebook with their face pictured in the user’s mind. Using this Kira become practically unstoppable because he doesn’t need to physically be there when he’s killing people. The Shinigami King said that that Kira was destroying the balance between life and death and he had to stop him. I can recount the events leading up to the arrest of the fake Kira which will help us to anticipate his next step however, I don’t have the proper police or FBI training to arrest Kira which is where you come in” Light explained before murmuring underneath his breath “and I need someone to deal with L for me”.

“When I was sent back in time I was gifted with the ability to see people’s names and lifespans which are called the Shinigami eyes. They will help us locate the real Kira as, someone who owns the death note won’t have a visible lifespan. It’s also how I know your real names without being introduced well that and future knowledge. If Raye Penber revealed his identity to Teru Mikami like he had planned then on December 27th all 12 FBI agents who were brought to Japan were killed. Later - on January 1st Naomi Misora disappears without a trace, she is believed to have been killed by Kira and her body was never found. Now, that I have alter the timeline we need to be careful to ensure that you and the other eleven FBI agents’ identities will not revealed”.

Naomi first wanted to completely dismiss everything which had come out of Light Yagami’s mouth yet, her gut instincts, those same instincts which kept her alive during the LA:BB case were screaming at her to believe Light, that what he had told them was in fact the truth but the idea that Shinigami exist and Kira was killing with only a notebook sounded ridiculous and the fact that Light said he was from the future. It just didn’t make sense. Why would the Shinigami king chose Light Yagami as someone who would defeat Kira? Why something was missing from all this.

“You really think we would believe you that there is such things as Shinigami and killer notebooks” Raye scoffed; he couldn’t believe the absolute shit that he had just heard. Light Yagami was supposed to be a genius, why the hell would he come up with something so unbelievably stupid that he should know that no one would believe him.

“Prove it” Naomi said shocking Raye but also herself, did she really believe this.

“Prove what?” Light asked even though he was sure on what she was talking about, he couldn’t show them the death note since he didn’t own one and he never wanted too. She wanted proof about his eyes.

“I’ll show you pictures of people who you can’t know, and you’ll tell us their names. That will prove to me that you have the Shinigami eyes and therefore everything else you’re saying is real” Naomi said standing up and walking over to the cupboard next to the bookcase and pulled out a small photo album. She then flicked through it quickly and pulled out ten photos before replacing it in the draw and sat back down in front of him and lifted up the first photo.

“Jason Smith, Morgan Ellis and Raye Penber” Light said looking at the first photo of three men with their arms wrapped around each other smiling at the camera. Raye’s eyes widened as he took the photo from Naomi. Naomi just nodded and lifted the second photo.

“Naomi Misora and Sarah Misora”. This time the photo was with Naomi and an older woman obviously Naomi’s mother. Naomi pulled up another photo.

“Lisa Andrews and Linda Matthews”. And another photo.

“George Charles and Chris Stein” and another.

“Conrad Lindsay, Naomi Misora and Raye Penber”. Naomi stayed quiet throughout, she just kept showing him the photos waiting for to slip up but each time he had been spot on that it was practically undeniable at this point. Light had these eyes; Light was telling the truth. Everything he said was real. But still Naomi held up the last photo, she wasn’t sure why she kept this one maybe sentimentality he had worked with her through the hardest case of her career even though he ended up being the murderer.

“Naomi Misora and Beyond Birthday” Light blinked, the name Beyond Birthday rang a bell. Wait, he was the serial killer in Los Angeles sometime last year, he had been posing as a detective to work through the investigation and wanted to apparently make an unsolvable case. It was the case where Naomi worked under L.

“Okay, you have the Shinigami eyes. I believe that. But you are still hiding something. You said you were going to be open with us however, there’s something missing. Something you’re not telling us” Naomi said, Raye just sat there. He wasn’t sure what the think, Light Yagami, a Kira suspect had some powerful Shinigami eyes. Fuck Shinigami exist, they were real. The creature that the bus jacker saw was real.

“What am I hiding then Naomi Misora?” Light challenged, he wasn’t really planning to tell anyone he was originally the person who died instead and that made him currently half-dead, that he was living a half-life. But, still he was curious to see whether Naomi was smart enough to figure out what he was hiding. She was obviously the smarter one in the couple and would be more helpful in the investigation.

“It’s something to do with the future, and I doubt it’s something that you can’t tell us considering you’ve just told us when we were meant to die. I believe it has to do with the suspect arrested and charged with being Kira. Why would the Shinigami King chose you, yes, you have a link to the police via your father but, that wouldn’t work? The Shinigami King could have chosen someone on the task force or L himself to relay his information and that fact you didn’t approach the police with what you know, you came to us instead. So, you have some sort of issue with someone on the task force” Naomi theorised, and Light was grateful that he had full control over his facial expressions because he was pretty sure that he would have given it away had he not. Naomi was definitely intelligent not on his level but close. Naomi continued “I believe and correct me if I’m wrong but, a Shinigami is a god of death now a god of death shouldn’t really have much control over the living. So, I suspect that you Light Yagami was in fact the Kira suspect and was convicted of Kira’s crimes. When you died, the Shinigami King had control over to bring you to his realm and talk to you. Who better to send after Kira then the person who died in his place? Am I right?”.

“My. I can see why L liked you. Yes, I was originally the suspect of Kira and later charged with his crimes on April 30th I died. The Shinigami King pulled me to his realm and gave me the choice to either remain dead or change my fate and capture Kira. I chose the latter. I’m technically Schrodinger’s cat. I’m both dead and alive. I have a heartbeat, yet I don’t breathe or blink. I can sleep and eat but I don’t require them as much as before. Due to my death in the future and my consciousness being linked I therefore don’t have a proper lifespan like you do. I only have zero’s hovering above my head underneath my name. L was the one who sentenced me to death, he was there when I died. I’d prefer not to meet that man and since your past relations with him Naomi, I rightfully assume he would more likely trust you then me” Light explained.

“I don’t understand any of this but why didn’t you go to the police with your information. I see that you don’t trust L, but shouldn’t you trust your father” Raye spoke up, he had stayed quiet for the most part trying to get his head around everything that he had heard.

“Like I said, I doubt L would trust me since I was his prime suspect in my original timeline. And aside from that. Do you really think that L and the Kira Task Force would truly believe me if I came in talking about Shinigami, killer notebooks and Time travel and yes, I could do what I’ve done with you but, I feel that L will need hard evidence to ever believe what I was saying was true and that would be getting my hands on a death note or for the Shinigami to reveal itself which without finding Kira would make it practically impossible” Light explained, his father was still a sore spot for him since he had been the person to actually arrest Light. He might have had a helmet over his head but, Light could still tell it was him.

“You’re right. If you went to your father begging to be on the task force, you would look suspicious in L’s mind. If you told them about the Shinigami and the death note, you would instantly be counted as delusional. We need to find Kira ourselves then approach L. You saved Raye’s life and I will be eternally grateful for that. I will do anything to help you catch Kira, so, you can watch that bastard die” Naomi said, she didn’t need much convincing after that, Raye was safe, but Kira was still out there, and he had to be stopped.

“Naomi” Raye gasped; he couldn’t believe what he was hearing. Naomi wasn’t an FBI agent anymore she had given it up so they could get married and start a family now here she was jumping headfirst back into danger.

“No Raye. If it wasn’t for Light Kira would have killed you. Hell, Kira did kill you. We need to find Kira before any more innocent people die. We have the advantage, Light has the Shinigami eyes, we know how Kira kills. We can take the right precaution to prevent Kira getting our names, we must do this Raye. No, the more I think about it we are the only people who can do this” Naomi said and Raye froze, he didn’t like thinking about the alternative to which in another life he had died because of Kira, so many of his dreams of marrying Naomi and starting a family with her were ruining because of Kira. Light Yagami’s life had been ruined because of Kira, he was living with the side effects of being killed because of Kira. Raye was lucky because Light had come back in time, he would never have to experience dying yet, Light Yagami was haunted by that. You think hindsight is a wonderful thing but, instead maybe it was actually a curse. Light knew what was going to happen, he had lived it, remembered everything about it. He had two sets of memories steaming through his head of two different lives.

Raye for once gave Light Yagami a proper look. He portrayed the imagine of someone who was strong, brave and confident. He had complete control over his actions and expression yet, hidden away in the corner of his eyes shows the true Light Yagami. A scared teenager who had gone through hell to be here right now. Hints of unsureness were there too, and Raye could finally understand. Light wasn’t sure whether what he was doing was right, whether his actions would lead to a worse outcome for himself and others around him.

“You’re right. Bring Kira down is our main objective now. So, what do we need to do?” Raye said and Light visible relaxed, he hadn’t realised how tense he was until he let himself finally relax. He didn’t have to work alone; he wouldn’t have to deal with L.

“Thank you Naomi, Raye I appreciate…” Light was cut off by the sound of his phone ringing. He wondered whether it was his mother since he hadn’t returned home with the shopping yet. “I need to get this” Light said standing up and walking to the other end of the small apartment before pulling his phone from his pocket and frowned. It wasn’t his mother, it was his ‘friend’ Yamamoto instead. That was odd.

“Yamamoto? Is something wrong?” Light asked confused he never received any calls from Yamamoto before, he wasn’t even sure if the man still had his number. Yamamoto was weird, he wanted to be popular yet, didn’t want to maintain any type of friendship with those he pretended to be friends with at school. He would talk to Light and hang out with him at school pretending that he was best friends with the genius however, the second the school day ended, and he wasn’t in front of people he would treat Light like he was dirt. Not that Light wasn’t used to it, he was popular because of his looks and how he was number 1 in all of Japan yet, no one really knew how to approach him, so they just stared and talked about him behind his back.

“I heard you were in a bus jacking. I wanted to make sure that you were alright?” Yamamoto said although Light couldn’t hear any worry or panic in his voice.

“How do you know that?” Light said, he knew it was doubtful that the police would have released any information about those who were being kept hostage plus, Light hadn’t stayed long enough to be identified as a hostage since he had more things which had been prioritised in his mind.

“My cousin was on the bus as well and recognised you. Said some guy had pulled you away when you got off the bus. Who was it? Did they hurt you?” Yamamoto said but once again he didn’t portray any emotion which would make Light feel like Yamamoto was worried for his well-being. Maybe, Yamamoto was just checking up on him to make sure that his popularity was intact since Yamamoto was only deemed popular at their school because he was friends with Light.

“Um… he was just making sure I was alright. I had a gun pointed in my face. I never got their name though” Light lied, he didn’t believe that Yamamoto was Kira after all, he was too stupid but, that didn’t mean he was going to risk Raye or Naomi’s lives by revealing their names to Yamamoto.

“Oh…. Well I’m glad you’re alright and I’ll leave you to rest” with that Yamamoto hung up. Light shook his head, that was weird. He didn’t remember this happening the first time around yet, maybe he had just missed the phone call the first time around after all, he had been a little shaken up the last time. Light pushed the conversation to the back on his mind, he didn’t need to deal with Yamamoto’s strange antics right now, they had to find Kira.

Light took his seat once more and looked over at Naomi and Raye “Right here’s my idea”.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys, I hope you like the new chapter however, I just thought I'd make something clear. Light never met L face to face like he did in the Anime/Manga. So, he doesn't know what he looks like hence, why he didn't have a reaction to Beyond Birthday's picture. Just thought I'd explain that so no one gets confused when they do officially meet for the first time.


	5. Chapter 5

L was beyond suspicious at this point, he had stopped receiving information on the Yagami family from Raye Penber, yet no body had turned up to say that Penber had been killed by Kira also he was still receiving information from the other eleven FBI agents. L suspected that if Kira had gotten to Penber that he would force Penber to reveal the names of all the other agents working in Japan however, they hadn’t died. It didn’t make sense for Penber to just stop communicating all of a sudden unless his identity had been compromised which if L had to put a percentage to it in these current circumstances has a 43% probability. And there was a 11% chance that Penber was being held hostage by Kira. It also increased the likeliness that Kira was a part of the Yagami family and the only person who fit the Kira profile was Chief Yagami’s genius son Light Yagami. 

“Could Light Yagami be Kira” L muttered to himself before opening a new tab on his laptop and started investigating.

* * *

Light had practically moved into Naomi and Raye’s apartment with the mindset that if he worked his ass off then they would find and catch Kira sooner. The sooner they dealt with Kira, the less likely it would be for Light to have to (if he had to at all and Light was doing his damn hardest not to) communicate with L. At first Light hadn’t realised a potential mistake they had made until he was updating his new timeline of the events from the divergence from the original timeline after Light came back in time and saved Naomi and Raye from their inevitable demise – since Raye wasn’t following Light around anymore, he hadn’t been sending any information to L about Light’s whereabouts and doings.

“We need to get all of the FBI agents to leave Japan to reduce the risk of any of the others revealing their identity to Kira then my attempt to prevent all twelve FBI agents would have been for nothing. We need to stop the investigation” Light said before taking a sip of his drink that Naomi had prepared.

“I agree, I haven’t been sending any information in about you and I don’t feel safe to resume my job knowing that I nearly gave my identity away once to Kira and since we still don’t have any idea who the real Kira is, we can’t risk the chance of him trying again with either myself or another agent” Raye agreed, ever since Light had approached them he had hardly left his apartment in true terror that Kira would try again and this time succeed.

“So, we agree. Raye sends a message saying his identity was compromised or do we convince the other FBI agents that their identity has also been compromised and have them contact the director as well” Naomi suggested, it would be the quickest way to get all the FBI agents out of Japan.

“Kira is currently a national threat to the whole world. I believe that the FBI won’t risk their agents’ lives. A message from Raye should be enough” Light answered, it took all the FBI agents dying for the FBI to stop investigating Kira the last time instead of putting more agents on the case to find Kira. One simple message should spark the same fear which the FBI director experienced the last time to order his agents to drop their assignments and return to America. Light continued “Give me your laptop, I can compose the message for you then you can edit it to make sure that it sounds like the email is coming from you, we don’t need the director to have even speck of doubt that this isn’t from you to not bring the agents by to America”.

Raye nodded before grabbing his laptop, pulling up his emails then passed it to Light who got to work straight away.

_Dear Director, Freddi Guntair,_

_I am one of the FBI agents sent to Japan to aid L in catching Kira, I email you know because I fear for the safety on myself and the other eleven agents. Recently I was in a bus jacking whilst following one of the NPA family members, one of the passengers was extremely persistent that I reveal who I was to prove that I wasn’t a second bus hijacker. Fortunately, the bus jacker died before I was forced to actually reveal my identity which I fear I would have done. Because of how adamant the man was (who wasn’t the suspect I was following) I’m worried that he was either Kira or an associate of Kira. I have not left my apartment since the jacking in fear that this man would try again to get my identity, due to the radio silence with the other agents I have not been able to warn them of him. So, for all I know the other agents are dead and Kira is planning to kill me too._

_I’m not sure what I should do since this is not a situation which I have previously been put in before, I may have come into contact with Kira and could be at risk of dying or getting the other agents killed. I wished to warn you sir, so, you can make the appropriate steps to protect anymore people from being killed by Kira._

_Yours Sincerely,_

_Agent Raye Penber_

“Read through this, make sure it seems like it’s coming from you” Light said once he finished typing up the email and handed the laptop back to Raye. Raye looked through the email changing a couple of things to make sure it sounded more like him before adding in the relevant contact email and sent it off to his boss.

“It’s getting late, you should get some sleep – if you don’t mind sleeping on the sofa then you’re more than welcome to stay here” Naomi said looking over at the visible tired teen who looked like he hadn’t slept in weeks.

“I’m fine, I don’t need as much sleep as I use to” Light replied, he would rather get more work done then waste his time sleeping, he never truly realised how much time people waste sleeping until he didn’t need it as much anymore.

“And you look like you’re about to fall asleep, when was the last time you slept? Huh I bet it wasn’t anytime recent” Naomi said, and Light froze, when was the last time he slept. He was pretty sure it he hadn’t at all since he had been sent back which meant it had to be the night of his execution was the last time he slept, if he could really call it sleeping considering he spent half the night awake staring up at his cell ceiling imagining the different possible outcomes which would happen the following day.

“The night before I died” Light confessed. Naomi didn’t even reply instead she stood up and walked into her bedroom before returning with a blanket and pillow and threw them at Light.

“Go to sleep” she ordered and Light sighed. He might as well pretend to sleep and once he was sure that Naomi and Raye were asleep themselves, he could continue working. Light threw the blanket over him and rested his head on the pillow and closed his eyes, he heard Raye and Naomi walking into their bedroom and shut the door behind them. Light waited to hear Raye’s snoring, but it never came because Light accidentally drifted off to sleep.

_Light knew he was dreaming when he opened his eyes, he had to be. He was currently in his living room at home, the whole house felt cold and empty that it sent a shiver down Light’s spine. Well the house was almost empty; his father was sat slumped on the sofa. His eyes were clearly red from crying._

_‘Why would my father be crying?’ Light thought to himself as he stepped closer and notice that on the table was a picture of Light and his father outside To-ho university, it was the day of To-ho entrance ceremony. It was also the last day Light had seen his father until the day he was arrested – his father was always working on the Kira case but Light never expected that his father would ever believe that he had what it takes to be Kira or even a murderer._

_“Dad what’s wrong?” Light asked but he didn’t get a response, his father didn’t even look up or even acknowledge that he had heard Light. Could it be possible that he couldn’t hear him? But why, it was Light’s dream so shouldn’t he be able to interact with everything in his dream including said father._

_“I’m so sorry Light. I should have believed you when you said you weren’t Kira. I should have fought harder for you. This is all my fault if only I changed the other task force members minds than maybe they would have help me get Ryuzaki to find actual concrete evidence to whether you were Kira or if not then work to find the real Kira and not speculation and the pressure from the ICPO to arrest Kira and close the case” Soichiro Yagami said before breaking down into tears once more. Light just stood there frozen to the spot, what did his father mean. He was executed because a speculation and peer pressure and not ‘hard evidence’._

Light woke up startled why the hell would he be dreaming of his father grieving after all he hadn’t died in this timeline… not yet at least. Could this be a side effect from the time travel that even though he was physically running on a different time, he somehow had access to the events of after his death. Did he really want to see what his family was going through after he died. And if that was true what his father said, that couldn't be real could it. He didn't just lose his life because of stupid peer pressure. That couldn't be true, could it? 

* * *

“L, you have a call from the director of the FBI” Watari informed the detective who turned to his laptop and answered the call.

“It’s me. I’ve received a message from one of my agents who worried that Kira had tried to get his identity which means that Kira must know about the agents sent to Japan. I can’t risk the chance that Kira will try again to gain all the agents’ identities. Look, I’m sorry but it’s already decided. We are calling off our investigation and bringing all the twelve agents back to America to protect them” and with the director cut the call, L just sat there staring at the wall thinking.

‘Which agent could have possibly come into contract with Kira’. If he found out who it was then that would narrow down his suspect list, to two potential households. This was going to be easier than L first thought. 


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whoops sorry for the wait. Just an update before we get into the chapter. If my grammar or spelling seem much worse the usual it's because of my dyslexia (it's not an excuse or anything tho) it's just my dsa laptop which had all my software which helps support me died so I just wanted to warn you just in case there are more mistakes than usual it's just because I didn't pick up on them when I was editing.
> 
> Anywho enough about my problems I hope you enjoy the chapter!

“I have to return to America,” Raye said when he walked out his bedroom after receiving a call from his boss at the FBI. Light nodded, he had expected that much. With the removal of the FBI support with the Kira investigation, they would want to bring back their agents to try and protect them. For what the FBI knew Kira was in Japan so if their agents weren’t in Japan there would be no chance that their identities could be leaked and for them to get killed by Kira.

“Understandable, I expected so, will you return with him Naomi,” Light asked looking over at the former FBI agent.

“No, I’m staying here. You asked us to assist you on the Kira Case and I will. The FBI only wants their agents back, they can’t order those who came with their agents to return to America, they have no power over civilians. You need help and I’m going to help you. So, what’s our next move” Naomi stated and Light smiled. She was definitely the right person for this.

“What would be helpful is if we knew more about the death note? Like the rules, if we knew them then we can figure out how to stop Kira or reduce the number of people he’s killing” Raye suggested.

“So far all we know is that Mikami had a piece of the death note but it didn’t affect his lifespan so he can’t be Kira. Kira needs a name and face to kill. And when using the death note you must picture that person’s face in your mind so people with the same names aren’t affected. That’s all about the death note we know about. We can theorise that because Kira has a Shinigami, if a death note falls into the human world then that Shinigami is stuck here but we can’t know that for sure” Light said, it wasn’t like he could question the Shinigami King the first time around since a lot had been happening that day.

Naomi opened her mouth and started talking but for some reason, Light couldn’t hear anything she was saying, then his vision went black.

* * *

When his vision returned to him, Light was no longer in Naomi and Raye’s apartment. He was back in the Shinigami Realm in front of the Shinigami King. Physically the King didn’t look any different, but Light could just tell that this King wasn’t the same one he met originally.

“What the… this should be impossible. I’ve changed the timeline; you shouldn’t be able to drag me back here or at least know who I am” Light said. If he was living in the past, then shouldn’t that mean the Shinigami King didn’t know who Light was. Unless the King had been following him since the beginning of Kira’s reign of terror but that wouldn’t make sense because Light wasn’t Kira so how could the Shinigami King know that Light would be killed in Kira’s place before Light was even arrested.

“I’m the Shinigami King, the memories of my future can be accessed by myself in the past if I so desire. Due to our deal, you shall forever be connected to me until the day you die again. Your original timeline shall continue until you have defeated Kira, and if you don’t then the original timeline will be reinstated, and all your changes shall be for nothing. Don’t forget you’re more susceptible to this world now being only half-living, you shall be haunted by visions of your future until you die or Kira dies” The Shinigami King said, Light didn’t know why he was shocked. It was clear the last time he was here that all this was some entertainment to the king, something to pass the time but to actually hear that his potential second chance of life wasn’t because he deserves it but because some godly being was bored and wanted someone to amuse him.

“Have you been watching me?” Light asked.

“Of course, I wouldn’t want to miss such entertainment but nevertheless, I will diverge you. As you know - to use the death note you need to have someone name and to picture their face in your mind when writing their name. When a death note is dropped into the human world and touches its soil then the death note becomes apart of your world which binds the human and the Shinigami together until either the death note is destroyed or the human who possesses the notebook dies. The cause of death must be written within the next forty seconds of writing the person’s name and the death will happen. If the cause of death is not specified, the person will simply die of a heart attack. After writing the cause of death, details of the death should be written in the next six minutes and forty seconds. However, the conditions of death will not be realised unless they are physically possible for the human or could be reasonably assumed to be carried out by that human” The Shinigami started listing the first few rules he could think of. Light felt sick to his stomach, he never truly realised how much power the user got when they gained ownership of the death note.

The Shinigami King continued “If one page is taken from the Death Note, or even a fragment of the page, it possesses the full power of the note. The pages of the Death Note will never run out. The owner of the death note can recognise the image and voice of the original owner – a Shinigami. A human who touches the Death Note can recognise the image and voice of its Shinigami owner, even if the human is not the owner of the note. The individuals who lose ownership of a Death Note will also lose their memories of it. However, if they gain the notebook back or another death note then their memories of the death note will return. I think that’s enough about the death note to assist you. Now, are there any other questions you so desire to ask. I don’t plan to make this a weekly thing after all this might have some effects on your body”. 

“Do you know who Kira is?” he asked, Light wasn’t expecting an actual answer probably to do with some Shinigami code, but it didn’t hurt to try. The King looked amused if he could be amused. Light wasn’t sure what emotions the gods of death could experience he expected only grim feelings.

“No, why would I spoil that for myself. You humans like a good mystery as do I. Looking for Kira myself would just ruin the surprise later. Now Light heed these words. L is on your case already, be careful because one wrong move and you will die. Good luck” The King said and Light gulped. It looked like he would be seeing L quicker than he first realised. Maybe he could talk to Naomi later and get her opinion on how he could try and avoid L without increasing the change of him being Kira. And just like before Light stopped hearing the noises of the Shinigami Realm, then he couldn’t see it. Now he thought about it, being pulled from his body was similar to how he was sent back in time the first time around and he hoped that when he woke up he didn’t need to be sick because that would be embarrassing.

* * *

“What’s wrong? You look like you’ve seen a ghost” Light said the second he woke up. Both Naomi and Raye were knelt in front of him both extremely pale.

“You were dead Light. When you collapsed, you had no pulse” Naomi said. Light just blinked. He never expected to be pulled out of his body by the Shinigami King, but he never expected that when his consciousness left his body there wouldn’t be any activity to keep it alive. Maybe that could come in handy if he ever learned how to willingly leave his body like an apparition or something similar.

“What happened? You just collapsed” Raye asked looking concerned.

“The Shinigami King pulled me to his realm, he explained a little more about the death note rules. Apparently, until Kira is defeated or I die a second time the original timeline will continue, so I’m still susceptible to both these timelines according to the Shinigami King, I’m going to be suffering from visions of my original timeline which have already started. I dreamt about my father last night, he was grieving so probably not far after my death” Light explained he had no reason to keep what he had learned from them.

“Light that’s horrible. Haven’t you suffered enough?” Naomi said, Light was already being forced to search for his own killer on the orders of the Shinigami King, why should he be haunted by what could have happened. She wasn’t going to let Light die again, even if she died in the process, she was going to prove Light’s innocence and kill the real Kira.

“Apparently not. If it’s alright with you I would like to head home. I’m sure Raye needs to prepare to head back to America and I guess you would want to help him Naomi” Light said, a lot had happened the last couple of days and he really needed time to process everything before he could start looking into what they needed to do next.

“Are you sure you don’t want us to come with you?” Raye asked concerned for the teenager’s wellbeing, Light had suffered enough already. Much more than Raye had, and he was a goddamn FBI agent.

“No, I think I need the peace and quiet to clear my mind” Light answered. 

“Alright but if anything happens message us. You’re not on your own anymore Light. Remember that” Naomi said and Light nodded, he had hardly known them a few days, and yet he trusted them more than his own parents. Maybe it was because he could truly be himself around them, he didn’t have to pretend to be that perfect son his parents saw or the number one student in Japan which his acquaintances and peers saw. He might be smart, but he was still a flawed human being even much so now he was practically the walking dead.

“I will” Light agreed before standing up from the sofa he was sat on and headed towards the front door. Light didn’t head straight home instead he wandered around town for a few hours, if the Shinigami King was right and that he would be haunted by visions of his future then does that mean what his father had said was true, he was killed due to peer-pressure and not factual evidence which there wouldn’t be because Light wasn’t Kira. It just didn’t make sense why would L crack and kill an innocent person without having the right evidence to prove it. Surely, they would need either a confession from Light saying he was Kira or the evidence that Light had a death note. Light was so lost in thought he didn’t see the looming figure appear in front of him.

“Hyuk, I’ve never seen anything like you before Light-o,” the figure said, Light looked up to see the Shinigami from the bus jacking – Kira’s Shinigami.

“Hello Shinigami”.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> UPDATE (03/12/20): Hey Guys so sorry I haven't updated since July. I haven't abandoned this story I've just been really busy and haven't had to chance to update. I will update at least two more times during this year more likely around the end of the year but I will finish this story I promise!


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE! (and Happy Holidays to others!)
> 
> Yes I know I've updated who would have thought! I know we've all had a rough year for many different reasons so I wanted to try to update all my stories at least twice before the end of the year. So since halfway through November, I've been working hard to write two chapters each for eleven stories (Wooh!). I really do hope you like this chapter. As always if you want, please leave a comment telling me what you thought about this chapter!

_“Hyuk, I’ve never seen anything like you before Light-o,” the figure said, Light looked up to see the Shinigami from the bus jacking – Kira’s Shinigami._

_“Hello Shinigami”._

* * *

Light said nothing after that, instead he just stared at the Shinigami whilst its creepy red and yellow pupils stared back at him.

“What, no questions? No reactions?” The Shinigami said, “It’s not every day that a Shinigami comes to chat,”.

“I’ve seen worse, and I’m pretty sure you know why?” Light said, ducking into a nearby alleyway so that passers-by won’t overhear his one-sided conversation.

“Actually, I don’t, unlike the old fart, I can’t see my future memories so I have no idea why you’re here,” the Shinigami said grinning, “All I know is that a zero lifespan means someone’s dead well they should be yet you’re still kicking. I’m guessing the old fart had something to do with it?”.

“Why should I tell you? I don’t even know your name, Shinigami?” Light said that was interesting, even though he was still connected with the other timeline, just like the Shinigami King. The other Shinigami’s weren’t which Light supposed was helpful considering it meant this Shinigami couldn’t tell Kira of any future events.

“The names Ryuk and you got any apples?” the Shinigami now known as Ryuk said.

“No, I don’t need to eat as often as normal humans do because of my condition why the hell would I be carrying food around with me?” Light scoffed, maybe this Shinigami knew nothing about his current condition. 

“Shame, I like apples from the human world, they’re juicier than the ones from my realm,” Ryuk said, it was just another luxury Light lost when he was sent back in time, the lost the ability to enjoy food, it wasn’t a necessity for him and honestly the last meal he remembered having was the prison food the day of his execution plus Light had seen the barren world that the Shinigami Realm was, he could only imagine what the food might be like when the place itself didn’t look like it could grow anything well anything decent that is.

“If I bought you some apples, would you be willing to tell me who Kira is?” Light asked, though he wasn’t expecting Ryuk to give Kira up like this, the way Ryuk acted now and at the bus jacking, it showed he was enjoying watching this go down, like this was entertaining and amusing to him and no matter how many apples Light could try to bribe him with he doubt Ryuk would give up Kira’s name and ruin his entertainment that easily.

“Hyuk, no can do! I’m enjoying watching this all go down. Living in the Shinigami realm is quite boring all there is to do is sleep or gamble, so no matter how many apples you say you’ll get me won’t cut it I’m afraid,” Ryuk laughed, “But don’t worry Light-o, I won’t tell Kira about you, your circumstances are as just interesting as watching Kira, so don’t mind me if pop in every so often. I’m not on Kira’s, L’s or your side, I’m just a spectator in all this and I won’t give anyone an unfair advantage over the others,”.

Well, at least Light wouldn’t have to worry about Kira coming after him again, and even if Ryuk gave Kira’s his name (not that Ryuk would do that, he had stated that as much) it wasn’t like Kira could kill him with the death note anyway from what Light could work out from the cryptical Shinigami King. He couldn’t die unless he was executed just like before whether that will be the case after everything has finished and Light has successfully captured Kira, he wasn’t sure. He couldn’t predict what his circumstances will be, would he come back to life, would he pass on, kind of like ghosts do in those movies, or will Light be stuck like this for the rest of his life (however long that would be). Light opened his mouth to say something else to Ryuk. He wanted to ask him about what he could tell him? When he heard a blood-curdling scream rip through the air near to him.

* * *

He didn’t waste a second longer as he darted out of the alleyway down the street towards the scream not really paying attention to whether or not Ryuk was following him, to his horror on the ground were three dead police officers surrounded by a small crowd, one girl (the person who screamed) was being comforted by her friend, whilst another man called for the police and an ambulance although obviously, it was too late.

Light looked down at the dead police officers, they looked like they had been chasing someone then collapsed, it must be Kira. There were no obvious signs of death other than their faces scrunching up in pain, the three perfectly healthy-looking men seemed to have just keeled over and died but Light knew better, he didn’t know how or why; it was like a gut feeling, but Light knew Kira killed these men. They died from a heart attack.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do apologise that this chapter is short but we are slowly setting up the premise for the rest of the story but do hope you have enjoyed this short chapter! So like I mentioned previously I wanted to update this story twice this year so there is a second chapter written which will be published on January 1st so look forward to that!


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!!
> 
> Just as promised I've updated this story twice before the end of this year! Let's hope the next one is 100% better! I hope you enjoy this chapter and have a wonderful year!

_“That bastard” Kira growled, throwing everything off his desk and onto the floor. If Mikami hadn’t kept his freaking mouth shut around those fucking police officers, then he wouldn’t have been forced to kill them. If the media got word of those deaths and linked it to Kira, then it could ruin his perfect reputation, he was working to build a new world, a world without crime where people can enjoy themselves and be happy and they wouldn’t have to worry about being attacked by the vermin of society on their way home. But if the media found out that his power had been used to murder three innocent police officers, then all his hard work would be for nothing. If only Mikami hadn’t been boasting about being Kira’s spokesperson whilst he was near the police, then bolted when they tried to question him about it, Kira should only be glad that Mikami had worked with those police officers before so he knew their names and could dispose of them quickly._

_“My plans have only slightly been put back by this my love but soon I will create that perfect world for you and I to enjoy where the people of the world will worship you like the god you are,” Kira said picking up the photo frame from beside his bed and looked down at the love of his life. Nothing would impede his plans, not the media, not Mikami, and certainly not L. Once L died, nothing would stop him from creating the perfect world. Kira carefully placed the photo frame back down before returning to his desk, grabbing a pen from the floor and pulled his death note from the draw he had worked to do._

* * *

It was inevitable, really. After word got out that Kira killed those police members, the police on the task force was going to get a little apprehensive that Kira would come and kill them as well. Kira was in fact a cold-hearted killer who didn’t care who he killed whether they were a criminal or innocent. Those three men had families, one had just welcomed a child into the world and now because of Kira, he would never see his son grow up. Chief Yagami as much as he hated it, and he couldn’t blame everyone for leaving, many police members of the task force were young, they had families, wives, children. Hell, Chief Yagami had his own family, a wife, daughter, and son that he would never see again if Kira killed him but he couldn’t just abandon the case, he wouldn’t let evil triumph but working the Kira case demanded trust and at the moment, L was the only person they couldn’t trust.

After the death of those police officers, it came out through an anonymous tip that the FBI agents had been following around members of the task force and their families. It felt worse when L confirmed it.

“L we’ve just received an anonymous tip saying you arranged for the FBI to come to Japan and investigate everyone associated with the task force and their families,” Chief Yagami said furious, they were working on one of the worse crimes in history and L was wasting valuable resources looking into the task force.

“Yes, I did” L confirmed.

“So how do you explain this? Are we now suspects in our own investigation?” Chief Yagami asked.

“I felt it was necessary to uncover Kira’s identity,” L said, “And I was right,”.

“I cannot accept that. I found it unbelievable that you would spy on us, the very people working with you on this case” Chief Yagami shouted, spying on the people you were working with was just downright unacceptable, L needed to trust the task force to do their jobs if Kira were amongst them then they would be sure that he would try to find L’s location or name, but no one cared about L. Chief Yagami wasn’t a betting man but if he was, he was sure that he could confidently bet and win that everyone on the task force before the FBI agents was revealed, he was sure everyone hated L in some shape or form including him.

“Please understand Mr. Yagami that I found what I was looking for. What that tip didn’t specify that I was searching the families of the task force for any links to Kira. Only a few days ago, they pulled the FBI agents from the investigation because of that very issue. One agent encountered Kira and now the FBI fears their agents will be killed if they stayed in Japan any longer. So, I deduct when I found which agent met Kira, I will find Kira,” L said.

L’s screen went blank and Watari exited the room. The task force remained silent as everyone took in this information so Chief Yagami honestly wasn’t surprised when not even an hour later, three cops quit then the rest followed.

* * *

Light had been home many a time to collect anything he needed, but he made it his mission to keep as much distance between his family and himself as possible. He just couldn’t face them, like he was expecting them to accuse him of being Kira, even though his family right now knew nothing about what happened to him. He wanted to protect them and his own mental health by focusing on finding Kira, it’s why he sent that email to the NPA, in the original timeline after the deaths of the FBI agents lots of people from the task force quit to save their own lives which led to the rest of the task force meeting up with L or so Light could only assume. If he was going to save as many lives as possible, he needed fewer people working on the Kira Investigation. His plan must have worked because he received a phone call from his mother demanding he come home right away because his father had called a family meeting, just like he did when FBI agents died last time.

This led Light to sit at the kitchen table, feeling extremely uncomfortable and unwilling to look at his father in the eyes. How could he? This was the man who arrested him, the man who accused him of being Kira and then let L kill him just because someone was pressuring the task force to get rid of Kira. Yes, the man in front of him might not have done that in this timeline and all going to plan, his father never will but that didn’t erase what had already happened to Light and it was painful to look at his father who openly admitted that he didn’t see Light as his son anymore and that he was a mistake before throwing him into a cell for L to deal with.

“Um, so what’s with the family meeting, Dad?” Sayu asked curiously, she had been busy trying to do her math homework when her mother ordered her downstairs.

“I figured you’re going to find out eventually, so I might as well tell you now. I don’t want you to be alarmed, but I’m sure you’ve heard of this Kira investigation,” Chief Yagami said, pausing for a bit to look at his family. Light stared down at the table, Sayu stared at him with a look of curiosity and confusion whilst his wife kept a blank expression, “Well, I’m currently in charge of it,”.

“What? Are you serious? That’s totally awesome, Dad. You’re the best cop ever,” Sayu cheered.

“That’s not quite the point I’m trying to make,” Chief Yagami said to his daughter.

“Oh?”.

“You see the truth is, the FBI sent twelve agents to Japan to assist us in finding Kira in all secrecy and a few days ago, they were all recalled to America after the identity of one agent might have been leaked to Kira,” Chief Yagami said, “that’s not it. Yesterday we found three police officers dead from heart attacks. All three men were in perfect health or didn’t have any conditions which could have caused a heart attack. They weren’t even on the Kira investigation so the heart attack couldn’t have been caused by stress,”.

“Does that mean they were all killed by Kira?” Light asked but he still refused to look at his father, everything about this meeting was the same as last time except the reason for having the meeting changed just a bit, going from the FBI agents' deaths to only three police officers.

“What!” Sayu screamed her eyes widened in fear as she looked at her brother than to her father.

“What I’m saying is, there’s a chance that Kira will try to kill anyone who comes after him. His crimes are ruthless and more frightening than anything we’ve seen. Many detectives have already quit” Chief Yagami said to his family. He knew how they would react, he knew they would beg him to quit too, but he couldn’t. He didn’t become a police officer so he could run away with his tail between his legs at the first sight of danger.

“Dad, you should quit, too. I don’t want you to die. What if he gets you?” Sayu begged, she didn’t want to lose her father because of Kira.

“That’s right, your life is so much more important than some job,” Sachiko agreed.

“I can’t, I could never forgive myself if I walked away from this. I will not sit back and let evil triumph” Chief Yagami said. He refused to quit. He wasn’t that sort of man, he wasn’t a quitter, he was a fighter.

“But Dad!” Sayu shouted at the same time his mother said, “Please, dear…”

“Mum, Sayu. It won’t work, he’s already made up his mind, he’s going to do this whether or not we want him to. Dad just… don’t die” Light said. Previously he had joined his mother and sister and begged his father to quit the task force but that never happened, hell it was evidence used against him for being Kira. They believed that he only begged so that there would be fewer people coming after him but that wasn’t it. One he wasn't Kira, and two, he begged because he didn’t want to watch his father die at the hands of Kira. Light pushed his chair out from underneath the table and stood up before pushing it back under and leaving the room. After everything that had happened in the last couple of days, he was knackered, but he could only dread what he would see when he closed his eyes. The first dream had been bad enough, and he could only imagine that they would get worse.

* * *

Chief Yagami didn’t stay much longer after the meeting, they were meeting L at a hotel at midnight. So, he waited until his wife and daughter went up to bed before he left. Light hadn’t resurfaced that night; and it worried him. Light had never been like this before. Now he thought about it. Light hadn’t been acting like himself for a couple of days according to his wife, Light would always stay out late and sometimes he didn’t even come home. Even when he did, Light would barely spend any time with Sayu and Sachiko instead of going to his room to hideaway.

He was worried about his son’s health and well-being, but what could he do. Because of Kira he hardly spent any time at home. He wasn’t sure that it wasn’t something he had done that caused Light to act like this but no matter how hard he wracked his brain trying to think of something he might have said or done which might have hurt Light, he couldn’t think of anything. The last time he had seen Light, they were talking just like normal. Unless his long absences were starting to take an effect on Light more so than he thought they might but if that was the case shouldn’t it be affecting Sayu too but she had been fine around him during the family meeting, it was only Light acting odd.

But again, he couldn’t focus on that. He had just arrived at Teito Hotel with Matsuda and Aizawa. With Mogi and Ukita planned to arrive half an hour later, just like L had planned. When the others had arrived, the group headed into the hotel, one group taking the elevators and the others taking the stairs before reuniting just outside L’s hotel room door. Chief Yagami gave the others a reassuring nod of the head before raising his hand and knocked on the hotel room door.

“It’s unlocked,” A voice said from inside the hotel room and Chief Yagami pushed the door open and walked inside to find something he hadn’t expected. A young man maybe in his early twenties stood in the centre of the room, he had black messy hair and what looked like panda like dark eyes with noticeable bags underneath them. The young man was wearing a long-sleeved white shirt, baggy and faded blue jeans with no shoes or socks on his feet, “I am L”.

“I’m Yagami of the NPA,” Chief Yagami said, pulling out his badge from his jacket pocket and showed it up to the man – apparently L.

“Matsuda” Matsuda introduced himself, holding up his police badge.

“I’m Aizawa,”.

“Mogi,”.

“Ukita,”.

“I’m very sorry we’re late, currently the five of us are…” Chief Yagami apologised but was interrupted by L, who raised his hand and said.

“Bang,”.

“What the hell was that?” Aizawa shouted, taking a step back from the weirdo in front of him.

“If I were Kira, you’d be dead, Mr. Soichiro Yagami, chief of the NPA,” L said, “Kira needs a face and a name in order to commit murder but I’m sure you’ve already figured that much out, haven’t you? Please do not give out your name so carelessly. Instead, let’s value our lives,”.

Chief Yagami stared at L, this was meant to be the world’s famous detective who was going to help them solve the Kira case. If that was the case, then God help them.

* * *

_It felt exactly like it had the last time. Light was still in his house, neither his mother nor his sister was anywhere to be seen, but his father was slumped on the sofa surrounded with empty beer cans. He was still wearing the same clothes Light had seen him in, in the last ‘dream’ but as he looked at the date, it was nearly a month after that. His father had been wearing the same clothes for a month, the little hair he still has was greasy and the childhood home Light grew up in was full of rubbish and beer cans, there were piles of dirty plates in and around the sick whilst the rubbish bin was overflowing with garbage._

_“Oi, woman grab me another beer” his father shouted, and his mother scurried into the living room and headed towards the kitchen before grabbing another pack of beers from the fridge and gave it to his father. His mother then ran back out of the room, pausing by the front door when there was a knock. Light looked horrified at his father’s treatment of his mother, yes, he got his death has affected his family in different ways, however, for his father to turn from this kind, loving man to this alcoholic, abusive drunk in a month, it scared Light of what he might see the next time he is forced to see his family’s future. Disgusted with his father, Light left the living room and went into the hallway to see his mother, who didn’t look any better. The clothes she wore didn’t fit her. Despite the signs of dirty plates in the kitchen, it looked like his mother had had none of it. Her skin was pale, her arm full of cuts and bruises which she was hiding underneath her jumper and underneath her eyes were dark bags showing Light just how little his mother was sleeping, it had been roughly a month and a few weeks since his death and his family was a wreck that Light dreaded to see what condition Sayu was in._

_“Hello Mrs. Yagami,” the person said when his mother opened the door, “I’m sorry if I’m intruding on anything,”._

_“It’s alright Aizawa,” Light’s mother said smiling sadly at the detective, “have they made their decision?”._

_“They have,” Aizawa said before letting out a deep sigh “I’m sorry Mrs. Yagami but they’ve made their decision. After Chief Yagami recently turning up drunk to work, with the know known knowledge that he drinks heavily and gets violent, they’ve had no choice but to dismiss him from his position as Chief of the NPA and fire him from being a detective all together. He’s a risk to those he works with, they might have not told you but, the day Mr. Yagami was suspended, he got into a fight with Detective Touta Masuda, I say fight but it was more one-sided and could better be termed a beating. Mr. Yagami for reasons unknown suddenly attacked Detective Matsuda and broke multiple ribs, his jaw, and arm. For those reasons alone, we can’t risk our other officers around your husband. I’m truly sorry Mrs. Yagami, I know your family has been through a lot lately and you didn’t need this on top but the NPA has no choice,”._

_“No Aizawa. Don’t apologise, Soichiro brought this on himself. After Lig… no Kira’s death, Soichiro willingly turned to the bottle in his way of coping. He went to work drunk so he must deal with the consequences of his actions… thank you for informing me of the outcome. Goodbye Aizawa,” Light’s mother said, shutting the front door and collapsed against the wall. Light wasn’t sure why, but he knew she was dreading to tell his father about being fired._

Light shot up in bed, wrapping his arms around his legs and buried his head in his knees. He wished he could cry; he wished he could just let out his emotions like everyone else, but he couldn’t. Tears were just another thing taken from him, just like he didn’t have the ability to naturally blink or breathe so whenever he was out in public, he would always have to remind himself to do it. Light took in a deep breath before pushing his covers off him, and he walked over to his desk. He wouldn’t get back to sleep after that, he didn’t want to force himself to suffer another and much worse ‘dream’. After all, he had Kira to find. He would suffer these dreams if it meant bringing down that bastard.


End file.
